On paper, 2017’s Need For Speed Payback looked great. The promise of a truly open-world game with encouragement for exploration and discovery seemed like a solid step forward for series. The problem was the execution as a whole felt flat. No single element was truly its headline act, and it arrived with no real personality of its own.
From what little I’ve played of Need For Speed Heat, it appears Ghost Games’ goal was to remedy that flat feeling by creating a new take on the series that draws from Need for Speed’s biggest past successes. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if they’ve achieved it.
During my brief hands-on time, I was able to sample two races: one set during the day and another at night. Unfortunately, the day race (named Speed Hunter Showdowns) feels like a very standard racing affair and extremely similar to the last few Need For Speed games. It’s high-speed, beautiful (if a little uninspired; shipping docks are always an eyesore) and features intense car jostling. The evening race is where Heat shines a little brighter, truly leaning into an ‘80s neon-lite Miami vibe. The setting is a new location called Palm City, and although there is a real place called that, it’s definitely a fictional Miami much like Payback’s Fortune Valley was Ghost Game’s ode to Las Vegas.
Source: IGN.com Need for Speed Heat Feels like the Series' Greatest Hits